Duke gets men’s top overall seed, women’s teams still on deck : NPR

The Duke Blue Devils were the top seed in the 2026 NCAA Division I men’s college basketball tournament after a 74-70 victory over Virginia in Saturday’s ACC Tournament title game.

Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images

March madness is upon us. It’s Selection Sunday, the day the NCAA Division I men’s and women’s college basketball tournament brackets are released.

The 32-2 Duke Blue Devils, fresh off a 74-70 victory in the ACC Tournament championship game Saturday over Virginia, were named the top seed in the men’s tournament. On the women’s side, the UConn Huskies will enter the NCAA tournament undefeated for the first time since 2018 and could be the top seed.

You can see the full draw for the men’s tournament here. The women’s bracket will be revealed at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

The male section

Duke is 32-2, coming off an ACC title, and injuries to two key players (guard Caleb Foster and center Patrick Ngongba) haven’t slowed the Blue Devils. Now, they will have first place overall with ambitions of reaching the school’s 19th all-time Final Four appearance.

The other No. 1 seeds in the men’s tournament are Arizona, which also went 32-2 and won its conference tournament title game; Michigan, which finished 31-3 after losing the Big Ten title game to Purdue on Sunday; and Florida, the defending national champion.

One of the biggest questions facing the selection committee was what to do with Miami (OH): The RedHawks were 31-1, with their single loss coming just a few days ago in the quarterfinals of their conference tournament. A team with just one loss had never missed the tournament. But the RedHawks played one of the easiest schedules in Division I; they didn’t play any ranked teams or major conference teams – their best win was over…Akron? Statistician and analyst Ken Pomeroy ranked them 93rd, which was historically low for an overall offering.

Ultimately, the committee named them the No. 11 seed and placed them in a “First Four” game against Southern Methodist University (SMU), meaning they must win that game to advance to the round of 16.

Although Miami (OH) was ranked the lowest of all the at-large teams, selection committee chairman Keith Gill, commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference, told CBS that they were not the last team selected for the tournament.

“They came in before NC State, Texas and SMU,” Gill said. But ultimately, those teams edged out Miami (OH) “on predicted stats and difference in win quality,” he added.

One of the biggest sensations of this season has been the exceptionally talented freshman class. This will continue into the tournament as these players arrive at the biggest stage of their young careers thus far.

Forwards AJ Dybantsa of BYU and Cameron Boozer of Duke (one of NBA star Carlos Boozer’s fraternal twin sons, both of whom play at Durham), along with guard Darryn Peterson of Kansas (despite ongoing cramping issues), are projected to be the top three picks in this summer’s NBA draft.

Kansas received a No. 4 seed and BYU received a No. 6 seed.

Finally, two schools will be making their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance: The Queens University Royals of Charlotte, North Carolina, in their first year of eligibility after advancing to Division I, were assigned a No. 15 seed and will face No. 2 seed Purdue. The California Baptist University Lancers, who won the Western Athletic Conference championship game Saturday night after their Utah Valley opponents missed a game-tying dunk in the final seconds of the game, were awarded the 13th seed and will face Kansas.

UConn forward Sarah Strong (#21) and guard Azzi Fudd (#35) are two of the best players in women’s college basketball this season. The Huskies are undefeated heading into the NCAA Tournament.

Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images

The female section

Before last season, the UConn Huskies had seemingly lost their grip on women’s college basketball. After winning four titles in a row from 2013 to 2016, the Huskies took a back seat as other programs had their time in the sun. Last year, under the leadership of point guard Paige Bueckers, UConn reclaimed the trophy.

Now, with forward Sarah Strong and guard Azzi Fudd at the helm, they are among the early favorites to repeat. The Huskies are 34-0 and are leading contenders for first place overall thanks to the 11th undefeated regular season in school history.

But the UCLA Bruins (31-1) can also claim first place, despite their only loss to Texas (which is now ranked No. 3) in November. Even though their biggest star, senior center Lauren Betts, hasn’t lived up to the sky-high standard she set during her freshman year, that hasn’t stopped the Bruins. All but two of their wins this season have come by double digits. A week ago, they beat currently No. 7-ranked Iowa by 51 points — not a typo — in the Big Ten title game.

Rounding out the seeds will likely be UConn’s opponents from last year’s title game, South Carolina, who two years ago was the last team to go undefeated, and the Texas Longhorns, who have always been one of the best players in women’s soccer but haven’t overcome the obstacle to win a title since 1986.

The women’s tournament has historically experienced fewer surprises than the men’s tournament. The lowest seed to win a title is third place, most recently in 2023 when Louisiana State and star Angel Reese upset Caitlin Clark’s Iowa.